DORTMUND RETURNS TO DIRT IN SATURDAY’S $75,000 SANTANA MILE

By Mike Willman —-

DORTMUND RETURNS TO DIRT IN SATURDAY’S $75,000 SANTANA MILE; 2015 SANTA ANITA DERBY WINNER TOWERS OVER RIVALS IN SECOND START FOR SHERMAN

ARCADIA, Calif. (March 29, 2107)—Kaleem Shah’s Dortmund returns to the main track as he heads a field of seven older horses in Saturday’s $75,000 Santana Mile at Santa Anita.Originally trained by Bob Baffert, he debuted for Art Sherman in the Grade I Frank E. Kilroe Mile and appeared totally out of sorts in his first try on turf, finishing sixth and last by 11 ¼ lengths at odds of 3-1.

Although Dortmund will no doubt go as the short priced favorite, Baffert’s comebacking Collected, idle since well beaten in the Grade I Preakness Stakes on May 21, could prove problematic in terms of early pace pressure, while Doug O’Neill’s Avanti Bello, fresh off a sharp win at the distance versus state-breds, is in good recent form as he steps up to open company at his preferred distance.

DORTMUND: A winner of the 2015 Santa Anita Derby, this massive 5-year-old chestnut son of Big Brown is looking to get back in the Winner’s Circle as he transitions from turf to the main track in his second start for Sherman.A winner of the Grade III Native Diver Stakes at Del Mar in November, 2015, he’s been winless in five subsequent starts.Best served when he’s on or pressing the early pace, look for Dortmund to “leave there running” on Saturday under Victor Espinoza.He has earnings of $1,982,825 from an overall mark of 15-8-2-2.

COLLECTED: A winner of Santa Anita’s Grade III, one mile Sham Stakes in his third career start in January, 2016, he took the Grade III, 1 1/16 miles Lexington Stakes by four lengths two starts back on April 16 of last year.A 4-year-old colt by City Zip, he could be ready to ramble off the bench with Martin Garcia engaged to ride for the first time since winning an ungraded stakes at Sunland Park three starts back in March, 2016.Owned by Speedway Stable, LLC, Collected is 7-4-1-0 with earnings of $433,700.

AVANTI BELLO: A 5-year-old California-bred horse by Include, he won the state-bred Tiznow Stakes for the second year in a row on Feb. 26 and will be ridden back by leading man Flavien Prat on Saturday.With nearly all of his career wins coming at the distance, he has five wins from 11 tries at a flat mile.Owned by Pablo Suarez, Steven Keh and J. Richardson, Avanti Bello is one of several horses that do their best running when forwardly placed early.Although he’s stepping way up in class, Avanti Bello has five wins and as many thirds from 11 starts at a flat mile.He has earnings of $413,416 from an overall mark of 23-6-3-6.

THE SANTANA MILE WITH JOCKEYS & WEIGHTS IN POST POSITION ORDER
Race 8 of 11 Approximate post time 4 p.m. PT
1. Magic Mark—Joe Talamo—120
2. Dalmore—Stewart Elliott–122
3. Dortmund—Victor Espinoza—120
4. Clever Royal—Corey Nakatani–120
5. Collected—Martin Garcia—120
6. Mithqaal—Rafael Bejarano—122
7. Avanti Bello—Flavien Prat—122
First post time for an 11-race card on Saturday is at 12:30 p.m.Admission gates open at 10:30 a.m.For scratches, changes and complete morning line information, please visit santaanita.com.
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Santa Anita Park is a Stronach Group company, North America’s leading Thoroughbred racetrack owner/operator. The Stronach Group racetracks include Santa Anita Park, Gulfstream Park & Casino, Golden Gate Fields, Portland Meadows, Laurel Park and Pimlico Race Course, home of the world-famous Preakness. The company owns and operates the Palm Meadows Training Center in Florida, and is one of North America’s top race horse breeders through its award-winning Adena Springs operation The Stronach Group is one of the world’s largest suppliers of pari-mutuel wagering systems, technologies and services. Its companies include AmTote, a global leader in wagering technology; Xpressbet, an Internet and telephone account wagering service; and Monarch Content Management, which acts as a simulcast purchase and sales agent of horseracing content for numerous North American racetracks and wagering outlets. The Stronach Group is North America’s premier supplier of virtual online horseracing games, as well as a leading producer of social media content for the horseracing industry.